ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

Over the years and decades I’ve written nearly one hundred songs. Of these I’ve managed to record about eighty, some in multiple versions. So when I decided recently to make a retrospective album of my work, there were many difficult choices to make. I’ve never been a good judge of which of my songs resonate most with listeners but I know the ones that most satisfy my intentions. Those are to reach the widest possible audience while still challenging listeners to hear music in new ways, within the limits of my talent, energy and resources.

Thankfully releasing in the digital domain allows more time than would be practical in physical media. After a lot of listening I settled on a list of thirty-two songs which give me the most satisfaction. In keeping with my tastes, the album includes dance music, power pop, jazzy noodlings and spacey sonic sculptures. There are political songs, comic novelty tunes, songs of death, destruction, loss, love and lust, and a few that blend all of the above. The music was made with the help of many wonderful musicians, in multiple studios in Santa Cruz and Portland. There is even a track featuring background vocals by Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers.

The list includes three previously unreleased songs recorded after remission of the worst symptoms of cerebellar ataxia that struck me five years ago. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to make some satisfying music recently but ataxia has irreversibly changed my relationship to music making. Luckily in retrospect, I feel that I have pretty much said everything I want to say with music, again, given my limits. Though I’m not one to ever say never, I feel that Gratified is probably my swan song and the final release of Reynolds Audio Production. It will be available on CD Baby on February 25 and other digital music outlets shortly thereafter. I hope you find it as gratifying as I do.

1 One Little Thing 2 Man Behind The Curtain 3 Prayer For Iraq 3 Food 5 Love Yourself 6 Your House Is Gonna Fall Down 7 Red Shift 8 Hypnotized By Your Butt 9 Find Out For Yourself10 Average Guy11 Nobody's New Shoes12 Le Tingo13 Liminal14 Permission Granted15 Postcard16 Litttle Monsters17 Come Around18 Just A Girl19 Inside Out20 She Has Taken Me Away21 Broken World22 Let The Cookies Crumble23 A/D Blues24 Take It From The Top25 La Calaca Comelona26 End Of The World27 Lost On Jupiter28 You're Not A Tree29 Oh Yeah!30 The Other Side31 Anthropocentric Blues32 Waiting For My Paradoxical Twin To Land

CREDITS:Words and music by John Reynolds except 16- words by John Reynolds and Steven Jonsson.Recorded, mixed and mastered by John Reynolds except 1 and 9- Recorded by Dave Garlett, 21- Recorded by Pete Carlson.Guitars, bass, vocals, keyboards, percussion, drum and synth programming by John Reynolds, except as noted below.c. & p. 2018 Reynolds Audio Production, Not A Tree Music (A.S.C.A.P.)All rights reserved.